Analyzing If 10 Youngest NHL Teams Will Be Pretenders or Contenders in Near Future

With the NHL season underway, we all got to see just how old and young each team’s opening roster was. It made for an eye-opening experience.

It's quickly becoming a young man’s league, which means those with younger rosters should be better positioned to compete for the Stanley Cup not too far down the road.

But where do the 10 youngest teams actually stand?

Since we’re focused on youth, we need to look at just how well-positioned those squads are to compete sooner than later. We’ll examine the top 10 a bit closer to see if they’ll tough through the learning years for a while or if they are ready to stake a claim for greatness in the near future.

The folks at CapFriendly have all the numbers necessary to save those of us who are less mathematically inclined.

The Arizona Coyotes have long been the team where fat expiring contracts go to conclude because they need to reach the cap floor. After all, who can forget legendary Coyotes such as Chris Pronger, Pavel Datsyuk and Marian Hossa?

Part of the reason the Coyotes have taken on those expiring contracts was to collect high draft picks for a rebuild. It’s a superb idea, but it requires great scouting and solid management to put it all together. If ever a franchise needed a Moneyball-like means to win, it’s the Coyotes.

But right now? The Coyotes' cupboard seems bare outside 2021 first-rounder Dylan Guenther and 2016 first-rounder Clayton Keller.

There’s Jakob Chychrun, also selected in the 2016 first round, who should be their cornerstone defensemen for years, but he told reporters he wants to be traded to a contender. That alone would indicate the Coyotes are still far from making a run at the Stanley Cup.

Arizona has struggled to draft well and develop players, putting general manager Bill Armstrong, who took over in September 2020, in a tough position to start the process himself. Drafting Guenther was a good start, but it will take a lot of time and patience to get the Desert Dogs back into the playoff pack, never mind in the Cup hunt.

Verdict: Pretenders

Where previous Buffalo Sabres GMs Jason Botterill and Tim Murray failed, Kevyn Adams appears to have the rebuild on the right track.

Murray and Botterill each had flaws, but a few of Botterill’s moves helped set the groundwork for the Sabres’ revival.

Tage Thompson was the key return in the Ryan O’Reilly trade in 2018. Botterill traded Murray’s 2016 first-rounder, Alex Nylander, for Henri Jokiharju. He drafted Casey Mittelstadt and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in 2017, Rasmus Dahlin and Mattias Samuelsson in 2018 and Dylan Cozens in 2019.

That foundation set things up well for what Adam has done.

He added Peyton Krebs and Alex Tuch in the Jack Eichel trade. The Sam Reinhart swap got them goalie prospect Devon Levi and a 2022 first-round pick, which turned into Jiri Kulich.

The Rasmus Ristolainen trade earned them a first-round pick in which they took Swedish winger Isak Rosén. They also drafted Jack Quinn and JJ Peterka in 2020, got Owen Power with the No. 1 pick in 2021, and selected Matt Savoie and Noah Östlund in the 2022 first round alongside Kulich this year.

There’s a lot to like about what’s cooking in Buffalo. Having Dahlin, Samuelsson, and Power gives them the foundation of a potentially dominating blue line, and the numerous forwards they’ve picked are all in the NHL or knocking on the door in the AHL.

Verdict: Contenders

The Columbus Blue Jackets are in a curious position. A casual look over the roster and system indicate they’re in the heart of a rebuild, but their moves of late say they’re trying to get into contention.

This summer, Columbus signed Johnny Gaudreau—who's an electric scorer both in goals and assists and should be their leader for the next few years—to a seven-year, $68.25 million contract.

Of course, he’s 29 years old, which makes him one of the older players on a roster with an average age of 25.9. Where the Jackets’ future gets bright is in how they’ve used their recent picks and the acquisitions they made through the Seth Jones trade.

In that deal with the Blackhawks, Columbus added defenseman Adam Boqvist and a 2021 first-round pick they used to select forward Cole Sillinger. The latter was an instant everyday player last season and should grow into a bigger role this year and beyond.

Mixing Boqvist and Sillinger with drafted forwards Kent Johnson, Yegor Chinakhov, Liam Foudy and Emil Bemström, along with goalie Daniil Tarasov, gives Columbus a solid start.

While Boqvist is the lone under-23 defenseman in Columbus, the team drafted first-rounders David Jiricek and Denton Mateychuk this year to address that. Things are looking up for Columbus, but the Blue Jackets will need a couple of additional years to mature and flourish.

Verdict: Pretenders

Perhaps the chicest young team picked to become a contender is Detroit. Under GM Steve Yzerman, the Red Wings have heavily invested in the draft the past few years, and they hit it big in his first one in 2019 with defenseman Moritz Seider. The 6'4", 197-pound German won the Calder Trophy last year and wowed with his ability to put up points and hold his own in the defensive end.

Young forward Elmer Söderblom, taken in the sixth round in 2019, is looking to make his first impact in the NHL this year, while 2020 first-round forward Lucas Raymond made a big splash last season alongside Seider. That would make for a good starting point for any team, but Detroit has more on the way.

2018 second-round pick Jonatan Berggren, 2021 first-round picks in goalie Sebastian Cossa and defenseman Simon Edvinsson are knocking on the parent club's door, and 2022 picks Marco Kasper and Dylan James look solid but will need time.

Even still, Detroit has 23-year-old Michael Rasmussen and 22-year-old Joe Veleno as contributors, and top players Dylan Larkin (26) and defenseman Filip Hronek (24) have been leaders for the Red Wings the past few seasons.

This team is ready to make the jump out of the lottery and into the postseason—if not this season, then certainly next season. Once the Red Wings get there, with this pipeline, they should stick around a while.

Verdict: Contenders

The Montréal Canadiens have been stuck in limbo. When they made the Stanley Cup Final in 2021, it gave a false hope that they were already on the road to greatness and everything was going according to plan. Since, a knee injury put Carey Price’s career jeopardy, and Shea Weber’s essentially ended because of foot and ankle problems.

The time to rebuild arrived suddenly, and GM Kent Hughes, hired in January, recognized it quickly. They already had forwards Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, and Hughes found a coach in Martin St. Louis to maximize their talents.

The Canadiens also traded for Kirby Dach from Chicago and had six top-100 selections in the 2022 draft, including No. 1 overall pick Juraj Slafkovský. The stockpile of promising players left from Marc Bergevin’s time as GM is on the verge of making it to the NHL as well. Defensemen Jordan Harris and Kaiden Guhle made the team out of training camp this year, and forward Jan Mysak is close to getting there as well.

Those players make for a solid starting point, but the Canadiens will need time for those 2022 picks to mature and time to fill up their coffers as well. There’s a lot to like about what Montréal is doing, but it's not close to being a contender.

Verdict: Pretenders

The New Jersey Devils have had good fortune in the draft lottery, which allowed them to take Nico Hischier No. 1 overall in 2017 and Jack Hughes with 2019's top pick. Those two are the foundation of their youth movement, and they’ve made good picks since then to support them.

The Devils had the fifth-best odds to land the top pick in the 2022 draft lottery but landed the No. 2 selection and took defenseman Simon Nemec. He seemingly made the opening roster but was sent to the AHL after the Devils made LTIR adjustments. Still, Nemec will be an NHL player sooner than not at 18 years old.

They drafted defenseman Ty Smith in 2018 but traded him to Pittsburgh over the summer for defenseman John Marino, who is three years older. In 2020, they took Alexander Holtz, Dawson Mercer and Shakir Mukhamadullin in the first round. Mercer had an impressive rookie season last year and Holtz made the Devils roster out of camp this year.

Mukhamadullin remains in the KHL in Russia. 2021 first-rounders Luke Hughes and Chase Stillman remain with their teams in the University of Michigan and the OHL, respectively, but aren’t far off.

That’s a lot of top-end talent, and the Devils management knows it. With 24-year-olds Yegor Sharangovich and Jesper Bratt already key players, they added Vitek Vanecek in goal during the summer to try to push them back into the postseason. If it’s not this year, it won’t be much longer until they’re back, sporting more to build on.

Verdict: Contenders

No team among the NHL's 10 youngest is more poised to win the Stanley Cup than the Rangers. They made the Eastern Conference Final last season with essentially the same roster they have now.

Defensemen Adam Fox (24) and K’Andre Miller (22) lead the way on the blue line, with Ryan Lindgren (24) also part of their top four. Meanwhile, Zac Jones (21), Libor Hajek (24) and Braden Schneider (21) all surround captain Jacob Trouba (28) to fill out the blue line.

2020 No. 1 pick Alexis Lafreniére and 2019 No. 2 pick Kaapo Kakko are being counted on more to contribute behind a crew of outstanding veteran forwards. Filip Chytil, 23, holds down a center spot in their middle-six forward group and is part of their second power-play unit.

The Rangers don’t need to look down the road to see who is coming next to greatly improve their lineup. Those players are already in the NHL and are key contributors if not necessary pieces to their success.

Even still, they have 2021 first-round pick Brennan Othmann and 2020 second-round pick Will Cuylle, both forwards, as the next players in line to be significant Blueshirts in the coming seasons. The Rangers are young, but they can be Stanley Cup winners soon.

Verdict: Contenders

If there’s an “It” team when it comes to NHL youth, it’s the Ottawa Senators.

The Sens are led by 23-year-old captain Brady Tkachuk, and he has 20-year-old centerman Tim Stützle, 23-year-old forward Josh Norris and 24-year-old Drake Batherson to support him on the attack up front.

Adding 24-year-old Alex DeBrincat was a huge boost to their young talent, and when you factor in 25-year-old Thomas Chabot, 23-year-old Erik Brännström and 20-year-old rookie Jake Sanderson on the blue line, it’s easy to see why people are high on them.

Those are eight players they’re counting on heavily to win games for them now and into the future. Newer arrivals such as 21-year-old Shane Pinto are just getting their NHL careers started, but Ottawa still has 2020 draft picks in first-rounder Ridly Greig and second-rounder Roby Järventie on the near horizon.

GM Pierre Dorion recognized they were close before the start of last season when he said the rebuild was over and it was time to get aggressive about returning to the postseason.

Oddly enough, the young players are probably their more reliable ones because the veteran help is thin apart from Claude Giroux. The Senators aren't a Stanley Cup threat yet, but if the upward trend continues and the roster deepens, they could be there within a couple of seasons.

Verdict: Contenders

Philadelphia Flyers fans are some of the most diehard in the NHL, but they’re in for a hard time the next few seasons as the rebuild begins.

Yes, the Flyers have a young team, and that youth movement is spearheaded by goalie Carter Hart. At 24 years old, he has already seen his fair share of tough times in net, but the gold-medal-winning goaltender for Team Canada at the 2018 World Junior Championships will be tested mightily in the coming seasons.

Philadelphia has youngsters Joel Farabee (22), Morgan Frost (23), Noah Cates (23) and Owen Tippett (23) up front as the team's first wave of youth. Bobby Brink was a second-round pick in 2019, and he got some NHL action last season, but surgery to repair a torn hip labrum will have him out until December.

They drafted forward Cutter Gauthier fifth overall this year, but he’ll need a season or so before becoming an everyday factor.

Defense is where things get a little murky. 2019 first-round pick Cam York is starting his year in the AHL once again, and past first-rounders Travis Sanheim (26) and Ivan Provorov (25) are in their mid-20s. Undrafted 22-year-old Egor Zamula cracked the blue line out of camp this year, but we’ll have to see what his NHL impact can be.

Patience is necessary in Philly. A rebuild was likely overdue there, but at least it’s underway.

Verdict: Pretenders

The Vancouver Canucks are in limbo because they still haven’t decided whether they’re in or out on committing to a rebuild. For now, they’ve got a young roster and will try to figure it out on the fly. But their past moves to keep up—trading for a declining Oliver Ekman-Larsson on a big contract comes to mind—are hamstringing their ability to build into the future.

When they selected Jonathan Lekkerimäki in the most recent draft, he became their first opening-round pick since 2019, when they picked Vasili Podkolzin 10th. They also landed Nils Höglander that year in the second round. And that’s been one of their better drafts in the past 10 years.

They’ve done mostly well with their first-round picks. Quinn Hughes in 2018, Elias Pettersson in 2017, Brock Boeser in 2015 and Bo Horvat in 2013 were all big winners and have helped give the Canucks a solid core to build around.

But they’ve drafted poorly beyond the first round, leaving them with a severe lack of depth coming up through the minors. That means they’ve had to try to fill in the gaps via trades or free agents. That way of team building has gotten much more difficult due to the flat-lining of the salary cap.

Now Vancouver is stuck in a spot where it has all those outstanding first-rounders but hasn't taken a big step forward with them. The pressure is on to get it together—and fast. They’re young, but they need a lot of help.

Verdict: Pretenders